Wild America

With ravaged rocks and grotesque patterns of erosion, South Dakota's Badlands National Park looks as empty and desolate as the back side of the moon. But interspersed among its spires and castles are rich grasslands and lush gullies which provide for sizeable populations of large grazing and small burrowing animals. Birdlife is abundant and Mammals range from Bison to Badger.

Our most enduring trees are the Evergreens -- the oldest, tallest, and largest of all living things! Long ago, people thought they were magical and brought their luck indoors to begin the Christmas tree tradition. Haven for a myriad of Birds and Mammals, which seek shelter among their boughs, these are truly trees for all seasons, symbols of the American wilderness.

This poetic look at America's forests leads us into the shadowed depths of woodlands from Louisiana's steamy cypress swamps to the moody rain forests of Washington's Olympic National Park. We marvel at the great variety of forests across our land, meet the wild inhabitants of these timberlands, and see how each wild ecosystem is constantly changing, yet also kept in balance.

From fern-filled rain forests to towering, glaciered peaks, the lush beauty of our Pacific Northwest has many levels. Starting on a wave-beaten shore, Marty Stouffer leads us upward through the life zones of Washington's Olympic National Park, where we meet the wealth of wildlife. Roosevelt Elk, Black-tailed Deer and Mountain Beaver enrich this unique wilderness sanctuary.

Two hundred years ago, unbroken prairie stretched over 1000 miles of America's heartland. Today, little remains of that vast expanse, where not only Deer and Antelope, but also Elk, Bison, Bears and Wolves, once roamed. Can we afford to protect a portion of our remaining National Grassland heritage, or must all of our birthright disappear under the plows of progress?

One of America's loveliest National Parks is at its most spectacular when Dogwood and Rhododendron burst into bloom. We witness this special season of change and beauty, and learn Nature's secrets of precise timing, as the forested Virginia hillsides unfold. From flowering forest floor to greening treetop, we see a complex interaction of a myriad of living things.

The Whitebark pine tree has wingless seeds that do not disperse in the wind. How does this stout member of the Evergreen family reproduce? The Clark's Nutcracker, a Crow-sized bird that removes the seeds from the cones and buries them in the ground, allows the Whitebark pine to renew itself. It's an essential food source for many creatures from Red Squirrel to Grizzly Bear.

From the first -- and smallest -- Refuge, created on Florida's 3-acre Pelican Island in 1902, to the 8,900,000 acres of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, our Refuge system is unmatched by any in the world. In areas from Maine to Arizona, millions of pristine acres have been set aside for native wildlife. We explore these Refuges, as well as many of the creatures that inhabit them.

Texas is big! It's also wild and incredibly varied. In this state, there are at least six dramatically different life zones -- desert mountains, flat grasslands, hill and brush country, piney woods and swamplands. For viewers accustomed to seeing the Lone Star State as a land of livestock and oil wells, this look at little-known wild areas promises many surprises.

Wyoming has more wildlife -- both in broad diversity of species and also in sheer numbers -- than any other state south of the Canadian border. It is also blessed with more exploitable resources than any state except Alaska. Conflicts between the two are developing. Wyoming's untamed beauty is seen to be all the more precious in light of the controversy it raises.